Indian CEO of US tech firm killed

SILICON VALLEY: An Indian-American CEO of a semiconductor company was shot dead along with two other persons by a laid-off employee of the firm in California, police said.

Sid Agrawal, the CEO of SiPort Inc, the firm’s VP of operations Brian Pugh and an unidentified woman were killed when several rounds were fired on the company’s premises in Santa Clara Friday. Police said investigators are searching for Jing Hua Wu, 47, in connection with the shooting.

Jing worked as a lead product test engineer for the firm, and had recently been laid off. A handgun was used in the shooting.

Agrawal had more than 25 years of experience in tech companies, including Adobe, Intel and Bell Labs. He held a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Kanpur, an MS degree from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

“It’s very unreal to me,” said Linh Nguyen, a mechanical engineer who works next door to SiPort at Excel Precision. “With all these people being laid off, I mean, I know people are upset, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone would do this.”